I'm glad you have both of Canut's solo albums. The other day I looked on Amazon for BOLERO. There is only one available, a "Like New" or near-mint copy for $144. As much as I'd like to have the album, I just didn't feel I should spend the money.

I may have heard that Andre had an unofficial solo album, but I'm not sure.

I'm glad also that you sent the message to Canut and that it was marked as having been read.

If you want the name of the record shop in Arles that Canut gave me, I'll give it to you. Whatever it costs, it will be less than $144!

Also, I guess it's official now, so I'm going to go ahead and post. On the Facebook page where Patchaï posted the news of the Grammy, where people are offering congratulations and are asking about him and Canut not being in the photo, Patchaï wrote, "Antonio ya plus patchai et canut dans le groupe on nous a jeter du groupe" ("Antonio is there more, Patchaï and Canut in the group, they threw us out of the group."

So there it is. What I thought from August, confirmed by Patchaï himself. That Grammy win has to be bittersweet.

I would appreciate the name of the record shop in Arles, when you have time. Do you have to pay in Euros? How does that work?

I knew the Grammy win would be bittersweet because of Canut, but now Patchai has confirmed that they've thrown him out of the group as well. The reason may have something to do with Gipsy Nouveau, or with Patchai's support of Canut, or both.

One thing I find infuriating has nothing to do with the GK's ousting of members. Last night on a half-hour French TV news program (broadcast in English), they were all excited about the Grammy win of two French guys who wear things on their heads like huge motorcycle helmets, so you can't see their faces. This was shown at the beginning of the program. Then on National Public Radio today, there was a story about the French being so happy about this odd duo winning a Grammy. Nothing about the Gipsy Kings finally winning a Grammy after 25 years as a group. Maybe it's because even though they have always lived in France, they don't sing in French.

That should take you to their website which, of course, is in French, but perhaps your web browser will give you the option to translate. If you find you need help, feel free to ask. I paid by credit card and they shipped pretty quickly.

(I just checked; they have Bolero in stock, and it costs 21.80 euros -- or about $30 US.)

If I'm not mistaken, Patchaï didn't really start to promote his new group until it had pretty much been confirmed by his friend that Canut was no longer part of the GK; in fact, I thought initially that Patchaï was still involved in GK and that Gipsy Nouveau was a side project. I actually didn't realize until he confirmed it that he'd been ousted, too. Such a shame -- instead of them all being able to celebrate 25 years and a Grammy win together, they're not speaking to each other and getting comments from fans who are not happy about the current situation. Certainly not the way I thought this group would end -- and still hoping it won't.

I knew about Daft Punk because that's the kind of stuff the younger members of the family listen to. Not my cup of tea. And they might be French, but what I've heard is in English ... .

Maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better, but maybe the management pushed for this to happenand put pressure on them.

I think that because Andre didn't release his CD. Why not? Probably because he wasn't allowed by his contract.But Tonino released a CD. There was only one; the other one is an European version. So now I have confused myself.

We don't know how much of this is the brothers and how much is the management; but I am sure that it is a combination of the two.

There is a thing in Gipsy culture when they travelled around in caravans, that if one guy got a new suit and came back to show everyone else, someone would have to rip the pocket off, just to keep you on the same level as everyone else; to keep the unity, and so no-one got ahead of anyone else, or become different. Maybe it's a cultural thing.

I know we idolize them, and love them so much, that when we learn of these things that show that they are not perfect either, it really hurts us.

Perhaps the question of a "breach of contract" issue does enter into what's happened. I'd guess that that might cause bad feelings both with the management and with the brothers. No one knows what their contract stipulates. No one knows how often it is reviewed or changed, or whether there are clauses prohibiting anyone's striking out on his own. The only thing we have to compare it to, I suppose, is the situation between Chico Bouchikhi and Claude Martinez back in the early '90s. And I don't know how fair a comparison that might be.

I hadn't even thought about the cultural aspect, but that's interesting as well. There are a lot of things inherent in gipsy society about which most of us, I daresay, know very little.

Whatever the situation, it's just sad, very sad. I'm not sure which affects me more, Canut's absolute silence or Patchaï's having said it might have been better had the Reyeses not been born brothers. Ouch!

I'd like to say that remembering the good times they've given me makes me feel better, but it only makes me that much more aware of what I've -- we've -- potentially lost. We can only wait and see what happens with time.

A bright spot in my day yesterday, related to the GK, was when I went grocery shoppingand they played Djobi Djoba in the store. That is a very unusual occurance. I recently moved fromWelland to Cambridge, Ontario, and they never played them in Welland. You never hear them on the radio. I only heard them, in the store, when I lived in Quebec. Do you hear them on the radio where you live?

Another thing I was thinking, was that maybe it was their parents that kept the family together.That is true in a lot of families. Didn't their mom pass away recently, a few years ago?

Unfortunately, we here in the US probably would not hear the Gipsy Kings on the radio, unless perhaps on a station that programmed world music. At that, I don't think I've heard much other than "Bamboleo," "Volare," or "Djobi Djoba."

José Reyes died in 1979 and Clémentine (Nesançon) Reyes in 2005. Their family are Paul, Fayonne, Rosette (Nénette; Fanny in English), François-Marie (Canut), Patchaï, Nicolas, Marthe (who married Chico Bouchikhi), Annie, Solange, André, and Nadia; and another brother, Lucien, who died in childhood. (I'm not exactly sure of the birth order, but I'm pretty sure I have the names all correct). Most of them spent their early years in the caravan, so that certainly would have kept them together! And I believe they all still live in or around Arles/Tarascon.

Just from what I've read/heard, not only their parents but the gipsy community in general probably played a part in keeping the family together when they were younger, but some of them were starting their own families at the age of 17 or 18. It would have been difficult to be in a band that wasn't making money and have to support a wife and child(ren). I know several of them had other jobs off and on until the band started to have some success. Once that happened, I think that was a real unifying factor for the brothers.

Given everything that they must have shared over the years, it's hard to believe that the Gipsy Kings would come to a contentious end. I guess that's why we all hope for a reconciliation.